1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to devices having utility in the health care industry. More particularly, it relates to a device that enables a patient to lie face down without turning of the neck by supporting the patient's face about its periphery.
2. Description of the Prior Art
When a person is lying in the prone position, i.e., on the stomach, the head is normally turned to one side so that breathing is not inhibited by the pillow or other object that supports the head. However, a patient recovering from neck or back injury or surgery may not be able to comfortably turn his or her head to the side when lying on the stomach. This can cause a serious problem, especially if the patient cannot rest comfortably on his or her back.
Means are needed, therefore, that will enable a person whose head cannot be turned comfortably to lie on his or her stomach while awake or sleeping without inhibiting the breathing process.
Several pillow-like devices have been developed and patented that facilitate face down breathing. Such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,095,569 to Glenn, 5,044,026 to Matthews, and 4,908,893 to Smit. Foreign patents disclosing special pillows include United Kingdom patent Nos. 1,048,632 and 1,199,533. A common shortcoming of all of these devices is that they do not stabilize the neck and head of the person using them. Thus, they may be suitable for use by uninjured people, but they cannot be relied upon by people with injured necks who require a stable support surface. More specifically, the earlier devices were designed to allow substantially unrestricted breathing of an uninjured individual sleeping in the prone position, but such devices were not designed to prevent the sleeping individual from moving his or her head and neck during sleep.
In view of the prior art as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill how the limitations of the prior art devices could be overcome.